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VANITY: Searching for sainthood through marriage.
VANITY ^
| 4/5/04
| VANITY
Posted on 04/05/2004 11:55:10 AM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus
So, if I'm not called to a vocation of fatherhood, you're saying, I'm only called to the "minor leagues"? The religious life is a higher calling. Taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience puts one in a different league compared to marriage vows. Of course each one of us must work out our own salvation in whatever situation God has placed us in. But we should be prompted by honesty, by humility and by Catholic doctrine to recognize that the religious state of life is a higher one than our own.
To: dangus
I mean to subordinate it to a higher calling. Don't I do that by bringing God into the act itself?No. While one should remember the presence of God in all activities no matter how mundane, the way to "subordinate the marriage act to a higher calling" is to preserve its inherent orientation towards the procreation and education of children. Here is what Pope Pius XII declared:
Pope Pius XII Allocution to Italian Midwives
Articles, chapters, entire books, conferences, especially dealing with the "technique" of love, are composed to spread these ideas, to illustrate them with advice to the newly married as a guide in matrimony. If from their complete reciprocal gift of husband and wife there results a new life, it is a result which remains outside, or, at the most, on the border of "personal values"; a result which is not denied, but neither is it desired as the center of marital relations. But this, however, it is a matter of a grave inversion of the order of values and of the ends imposed by the Creator Himself. We find Ourselves faced with the propagation of a number of ideas and sentiments directly opposed to the clarity, profundity, and seriousness of Christian thought. Now, the truth is that matrimony, as an institution of nature, in virtue of the Creator's will, has not as a primary and intimate end the personal perfection of the married couple but the procreation and upbringing of a new life. The other ends, inasmuch as they are intended by nature, are not equally primary, much less superior to the primary end, but are essentially subordinated to it.
We Ourselves drew up a declaration on the order of those ends, pointing out what the very internal structure of the natural disposition reveals. We showed what has been handed down by Christian tradition, what the Supreme Pontiffs have repeatedly taught, and what was then in due measure promulgated by the Code of Canon Law. Not long afterwards, to correct opposing opinions, the Holy See, by a public decree, proclaimed that it could not admit the opinion of some recent authors who denied that the primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of the offspring, or teach that the secondary ends are not essentially subordinated to the primary end, but are on an equal footing and independent of it.
Would this lead, perhaps, to Our denying or diminishing what is good and just in personal values resulting from matrimony and its realization? Certainly not, because the Creator has designed that for the procreation of a new life human beings made of flesh and blood, gifted with soul and heart, shall be called upon as men and not as animals deprived of reason to be the authors of their posterity. It is for this end that the Lord desires the union of husband and wife.
All this is therefore true and desired by God. But, on the other hand, it must not be divorced completely from the primary function of matrimonythe procreation of offspring. Not only the common work of external life, but even all personal enrichmentspiritual and intellectualall that in married love as such is most spiritual and profound, has been placed by the will of the Creator and of nature at the service of posterity. The perfect married life, of its very nature, also signifies the total devotion of parents to the well-being of their children, and married love in its power and tenderness is itself a condition of the sincerest care of the offspring and the guarantee of its realization.
To: Maximilian
OK, thank you.
43
posted on
04/05/2004 3:51:29 PM PDT
by
dangus
To: dangus
Died at Antinoë, Egypt, in 298. Joined in life as husband and wife for three weeks, the newly-weds Timothy and Maura were nailed against a wall because Timothy, a reader, refused to hand over the Sacred Books. They consoled and encouraged each other during the nine days they hanged there until their martyrdom under Diocletian (Benedictines, Coulson).
To: dangus
some of the most hardened atheists call out for God.
Great homily just a week or so ago on EWTN about the Catholic view of sex; it's sacred between a husband and wife because... we have the "power of God" in creating life... God allowed humans that Gift even after The Fall.
homily in real audio
To: dangus
St. Louis IX, King of France, married to Marguerite of Provence. He was considered a holy, kind, and just ruler; he died in Tunisia in 1270, on the way home from one of the last Crusades (gasp!).
46
posted on
04/05/2004 4:45:02 PM PDT
by
Gumdrop
To: dangus
We are called to be who God created us to be. Not everyone can or should be a priest or nun. Our challenge in this lifetime is to discover our talents, and use them for God's work in the world as He intended.
That being said, Marriage and Holy Orders are both Sacraments and I wouldn't label one path as better than the other. God's will is paramount.
It is easier for a single religious to achieve an advanced spiritual state because they are not distracted by the cares of the world as much as those who live in the world. That is why monastics reach greater heights rapidly, more so than parish priests or non-cloistered nuns. A life given completely to God every minute of the day culminates in mystical union with God. St. John of the Cross' "Ascent of Mt. Carmel" is a wonderful guide to the mystical path (as are his other works).
So, in answer to that part of your question, I think the scarcity of married saints is more practical than theological.
As to the sexual aspect of your question, it depends on its use (like food or anything else, it can be good or bad). The OT Song of Songs uses marital sexual imagery as metaphor for the soul's mystical union with God. Mystics such as St. John of the Cross and several others do the same. Celibates give up the earthly parallel of this union for the higher, ultimate manifestation. Some married couples also choose to do the same.
My overall point is, where a person's focus goes, progress follows. Everyone is called to be a saint. Whether we achieve it in this lifetime or not depends on our ability to detach from material desires of this world.
To: GirlShortstop
Marriage will never take a "back seat" to the clergy as a calling, as long as the clergy includes the likes of Luther...
: )
48
posted on
04/05/2004 5:59:56 PM PDT
by
Tuco Ramirez
(Ideas have consequences.)
To: GirlShortstop
Thank you very much... I look forward to getting to hear this.
49
posted on
04/06/2004 7:24:13 AM PDT
by
dangus
To: Canticle_of_Deborah
Thank you Debbie, what you posted is quite beautiful.
50
posted on
04/06/2004 7:24:57 AM PDT
by
dangus
To: Land of the Irish; Romulus
It's been suggested to me I ping you two to this topic about marital vocations and Catholic sexuality. Irish, you have an extensive ping list... Could you ping them for me?
51
posted on
04/06/2004 8:50:04 AM PDT
by
dangus
To: dangus; Akron Al; Alberta's Child; Andrew65; AniGrrl; Antoninus; apologia_pro_vita_sua; attagirl; ..
I haven't followed this thread, but here's a ping, per dangus' request.
To: dangus
American-Born, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was married and was NOT canonized because of marriage, she founded a religious order of nuns.
53
posted on
04/06/2004 1:51:00 PM PDT
by
Coleus
(Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
To: Canticle_of_Deborah
The OT Song of Songs uses marital sexual imagery as metaphor for the soul's mystical union with God. It's a lot more than a mere metaphor or an allegory. Some passages simply cannot be 'allegorized'. Song of Songs is more a calebration of marital sexual love than anything else.
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